The moment the fiend queen's head hit the ground, a deep silence spread through the Crimson Village.
It was the kind of silence that didn't bring peace… only the heavy weight of exhaustion.
The smell of burning tendrils and scorched earth mixed with the coppery scent of blood. Smoke coiled into the air like faint ghosts, drifting over the shattered rooftops.
Somewhere in the distance, a child whimpered softly.
Aarya stood in the middle of the battlefield, Granthnishaan still glowing faintly in his hand.
The fiend's seed — a charred, cracked remnant — lay at his feet, pulsing once… and then going completely still.
Feran landed beside him, tail low, ears twitching. "It's over. For now."
Aarya's gaze swept the ruins of the central square. "For now," he echoed, voice low.
---
Grace stepped forward, his spear tip still stained red. He wiped it clean with a torn cloth from his belt. "The villagers are safe. Riya got the last group out."
Aarya nodded, but his eyes caught on something else — the ground where the seed had burrowed.
A faint red shimmer was still visible in the cracks.
Feran narrowed his eyes. "That's… not just residue. Something's alive down there."
Aarya crouched, pressing his palm against the earth. The faint pulse that returned through his skin wasn't the fading life of the seed.
It was steady… rhythmic. Almost like a heartbeat.
---
"Move back," Aarya said suddenly.
Grace frowned. "Why—"
Before he could finish, a tiny thread of black shot up from the crack, wrapping around Aarya's wrist.
The Granthnishaan reacted instantly, sending a burst of blue aura through Aarya's arm. The thread hissed and retracted into the ground.
Grace's eyes hardened. "That's the same thing you fought in the ridge, isn't it?"
Aarya didn't answer immediately. He looked toward Feran — the beast's gaze was fixed on the jungle edge, fur bristling.
"It's not the same," Feran said quietly. "This one's older."
---
Riya walked over, her armor scratched, hair sticking to her sweat-soaked forehead. "Older or not, we can't stay here. If the Bloodthorn has roots under the village, we're exposed."
Grace gestured to the villagers regrouping at the healer's hut. "We can move them to the old watchtower area for now."
Aarya rose, still watching the cracks.
Something about that heartbeat under the soil… it was exactly the same rhythm Feran had mentioned when they first entered the jungle.
He tightened his jaw. "Get them to safety. I'll check the perimeter."
---
As the others moved to organize the relocation, Aarya slipped away from the central zone, following the trail of the faint pulse.
It wasn't hard to track — every few meters, the soil bulged slightly, as if something enormous had once passed under it.
Feran spoke in his mind. "This trail… I felt it earlier. It belongs to the guardian beast."
Aarya didn't break stride. "The one from your vision?"
"Yes. And if it's this close to the village, it's not hiding anymore."
The trail curved toward the northern treeline, where the jungle canopy was so thick that sunlight barely touched the ground.
---
Just before stepping in, Aarya heard faint movement — not the chaotic rustle of battle, but the slow, deliberate shift of something massive brushing past trees.
Every step it took pressed the air heavier around him.
Then, nothing.
No sound. No movement. Just the overwhelming weight of being watched.
Aarya slowly placed his hand on the Granthnishaan. "I know you're there."
For a long moment, the silence held…
…and then, deep in the shadows, two amber eyes blinked open.
---
They weren't hostile. Not yet.
But they were measuring him.
Feran's voice in his mind was low and tense. "Don't attack. If you do, the entire zone will respond."
The eyes didn't move closer — they simply followed every shift of Aarya's weight, every subtle twitch of his fingers.
Finally, the presence pulled back into the trees, vanishing as silently as it had appeared.
The jungle air felt lighter… but Aarya knew the watcher was still nearby.
---
When he returned to the village outskirts, Grace was finishing the perimeter patrol. "Find anything?"
Aarya just shook his head. "Only a reminder that this zone isn't done with us."
Riya approached, wiping her blades clean. "The villagers are settled at the watchtower. But we can't linger here more than a day."
Aarya looked toward the jungle once more. "We won't."
But in his mind, he heard Feran's quiet warning:
"If the guardian comes again… it won't be to watch."
---
Aarya didn't respond to Feran's words.
The silver beast's tone carried a weight he didn't ignore, but right now, his mind was split between two paths — defending the village… and understanding what kind of presence was lurking in this zone.
The watchtower settlement flickered in the distance, torches already burning though the sun hadn't yet set.
From here, the air smelled of wood smoke and herbal salves — signs that the healers were at work.
---
Grace stood near the tower entrance, arms crossed, scanning the treeline. "You're late."
"I wasn't gone long," Aarya said, stepping into the torchlight.
Grace's gaze lingered on him a moment longer than usual. "I'm not asking where you went. Just don't disappear when the village needs you."
Riya was sitting on a flat stone nearby, rewrapping the hilt of one blade with a fresh strip of cloth. She didn't look up. "The Bloodthorn won't wait for us to recover. Whatever attacked today… was only a messenger."
Feran hopped down from Aarya's shoulder, pacing in a small circle. "Then we have very little time."
---
Inside the watchtower, the rescued hunters lay on mats, some sleeping, others quietly talking. Arjun's voice was hoarse but steady as he spoke to one of his men.
When Aarya stepped inside, Arjun glanced up. "I heard you chased something from the ridge. Did you kill it?"
Aarya didn't answer right away. "Not in the way you think."
Arjun frowned, but his exhaustion kept him from pressing further. "Then I hope whatever you left behind doesn't find its way here."
---
Later that night, the air inside the watchtower grew still. The faint crackle of torches was the only sound.
Aarya sat cross-legged in one corner, Granthnishaan across his lap. The blue markings along its surface were dim, as if the weapon itself was resting.
Feran lay beside him, eyes half-closed but ears twitching at every sound outside.
"You're still thinking about it," Feran said without looking up.
"The eyes in the forest," Aarya replied. "They weren't hostile… but they were testing me."
---
Feran's tail flicked once. "That's how a guardian behaves. It measures the strength of anything that steps into its territory."
"And if it doesn't like the answer?" Aarya asked.
Feran's gaze finally met his. "Then it erases the question."
Outside, a faint rustle drifted from the jungle. It wasn't the random movement of wind — it was slow, deliberate.
Grace's voice called from the watchtower entrance, "Aarya. Riya. Something's moving in the northern perimeter."
---
The three of them stepped out into the night. The moonlight was thin, almost swallowed by the dense canopy, but their eyes adjusted quickly.
Somewhere beyond the first line of trees, a pair of faint amber glows blinked once… and vanished.
Riya's grip tightened on her blades. "You saw it too."
"Yes," Aarya said quietly. "And it's letting us know it's still watching."
Feran's fur bristled. "Then whatever comes next… will be on its terms, not ours."
---
The rest of the night passed without attack, but no one truly slept.
When the first streaks of dawn brushed the horizon, the village looked calm — but it was the tense calm before a storm.
Aarya's hand instinctively brushed against the Granthnishaan's hilt. The battlefield still reeked of smoke and blood… and somewhere beneath the soil, the Fiend Queen's seed still pulsed faintly. He knew this silence was only a pause — the fight wasn't over yet.
---
To be continue....